Use AirDrop on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

With AirDrop, you can instantly share your photos, videos, documents, and more with other Apple devices that are nearby.

Use AirDrop to share and receive content, like photos and documents, with other Apple devices that are nearby.

Before you begin

Before you begin, check the following:

Make sure that the person you're sending to is nearby and within Bluetooth and Wi-Fi range.

Check that you and the person you're sending to have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned on. If either of you have Personal Hotspot on, turn it off.

Check if the person you're sending to has their AirDrop set to receive from Contacts Only. If they do, and you’re in their Contacts, they need to have your email address or mobile number in your contact card for AirDrop to work.

You can put your AirDrop receiving setting to Contacts Only or Receiving Off at any time to control who can see your device and send you content in AirDrop.

Share content with AirDrop

Use AirDrop to share content from apps like Photos, Safari, Contacts, and more. Here's how:

Open an app, tap Share or . If you share a photo from the Photos app, you can swipe left or right and select multiple photos.

Tap the AirDrop user that you want to share content with. Or you can AirDrop content between your own Apple devices. Don’t see the AirDrop user or your other device? Learn what to do.

Receive content with AirDrop

When someone shares content with you using AirDrop, you see an alert with a preview of the content and you can tap Accept or Decline.

If you tap Accept, you get the content in the app it was sent from. For example, photos appear in the Photos app and websites open in Safari. App links open in the App Store so you can download or purchase the app.

If you AirDrop content to yourself, like share a photo from your iPhone to your Mac, you won't see an option to Accept or Decline. The content is automatically sent to that device. Just make sure that both devices are signed in with the same Apple ID.

Choose who can send you content in AirDrop

Choose who can see your device and send you content in AirDrop.

Go to Settings > General > AirDrop.

You can also set your AirDrop options in Control Center. Here's how:

On iPhone X or later, swipe down from the upper-right corner of the screen to open Control Center. On iPhone 8 or earlier, swipe up from the bottom of the screen.

Press firmly or touch and hold the network settings card in the upper-left corner.

Tap AirDrop .

Then choose one of these options:

Receiving Off: You won't receive AirDrop requests.

Contacts Only: Only your contacts can see your device.

Everyone: All nearby iOS devices using AirDrop can see your device.

If you see Receiving Off and can't tap to change it, go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Allowed Apps and make sure that AirDrop is turned on.